Read the Gospels in 40 Days

25 Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten young women took their lamps and went to meet a man who was being married.

² Five of them were foolish and five of them were wise.

³ The five foolish women took their lamps but took no oil with them.

⁴ The wise ones took bottles of oil with their lamps.

⁵ `It was a long time before the man came, so they all went to sleep.

⁶ At midnight there was a call, "Here comes the man who is to be married! Come out to meet him."

⁷ Then all the young women woke up. They cleaned their lamps.

⁸ The foolish ones said to the wise ones, "Give us some of your oil. The light in our lamps is dying."

⁹ But the wise ones answered, "There may not be enough oil for us all. Go to the market and buy some for yourselves."

¹⁰ `While they went away to buy oil, the man came. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast. Then the door was shut.

¹¹ After that, the other women also came. They called, "Sir, sir, open the door for us."

¹² But he said, "I tell you the truth. I do not know you."

¹³ So watch! You do not know the day or the hour.'

¹⁴ `The kingdom of heaven will be like the time a man went to a country far away. He called his servants and put them in charge of his money.

¹⁵ He gave five bags of money to one servant. He gave two bags of money to another servant. He gave one bag of money to another servant. He gave to each one what he was able to be in charge of. Then he went away.

¹⁶ `Right away the servant who had five bags of money began to buy and sell things with it. He made five bags of money more than he had at first.

¹⁷ `The servant who had two bags of money did the same thing as the one who had five bags. He also made two bags of money more than he had at first.

¹⁸ But the man who had only one bag of money dug a hole in the ground. And he hid his master's money in the ground.

¹⁹ `After a long time, the master of those servants came home. He asked what they had done with his money.

²⁰ The servant who had been given five bags of money brought five bags more to his master. He said, "Sir, you gave me five bags of money. See, I have made five bags more money."

²¹ `His master said, "You have done well. You are a good servant. I can trust you. You have taken good care of a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come, have a good time with your master."

²² `The servant who had been given two bags of money came and said to his master, "Sir, you gave me two bags of money. I have made two bags more money."

²³ His master said, "You have done well. You are a good servant. I can trust you. You have taken good care of a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come, have a good time with your master."

²⁴ `The servant who had been given one bag of money came and said, "Sir, I knew that you were a hard man. You cut grain where you did not plant. You pick fruit where you put nothing in.

²⁵ I was afraid. So I went and hid your money in the ground. Here is your money."

²⁶ `His master answered him, "You are a bad and lazy servant. You knew that I cut grain where I did not plant. You knew that I pick fruit where I put nothing in.

²⁷ You should have put my money in the bank. Then when I came home, I would have had my money with interest on it.

²⁸ So take the money away from him. Give it to the one who has ten bags.

²⁹ Anyone who has some will get more, and he will have plenty. But he who does not get anything, even the little that he has will be taken away from him.

³⁰ Take this good-for-nothing servant! Put him out in the dark place outside. People there will cry and make a noise with their teeth." '

³¹ `The Son of Man will be great and will come with all his holy angels. Then he will sit on his throne like a king.

³² All the nations will be gathered in front of him. He will put them in two groups like a man who takes care of sheep. He puts the sheep on one side of him and he puts the goats on the other side of him.

³³ The Son of Man will put people who are like the sheep at his right side. He will put people who are like the goats at his left side.

³⁴ Then the King will say to those who are at his right side, "Come! My Father has blessed you. The kingdom was made ready for you when the world was first made. Come into it now.

³⁵ I was hungry. You gave me food. I was thirsty. You gave me a drink. I was a stranger. You took me in.

³⁶ I needed clothes. You gave me clothes. I was sick. You came to visit me. I was in prison. You came to see me."

³⁷ `Then the good people will ask him, "Lord when did we see you hungry and give you food? When did we see you thirsty and give you a drink?

³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and take you in? When did we see you needing clothes and give you clothes?

³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and come to see you?"

⁴⁰ `The King will answer them, "I tell you the truth. What you did for even the smallest of these people you did for me. They are my brothers."

⁴¹ `Then he will say to those at the left side "Go away from me. You are cursed. Go into the fire that burns for ever. That fire has been made ready for the devil and his angels.

⁴² I was hungry. You did not give me food. I was thirsty. You did not give me a drink.

⁴³ I was a stranger. You did not take me in. I needed clothes. You did not give me any clothes. I was sick and in prison. You did not come to see me."

⁴⁴ `Then they will also ask, "Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or needing clothes, or sick, or in prison, and did not help you?"

⁴⁵ `Then the King will answer them, "I tell you the truth. What you did not do for even the smallest of these, you did not do for me."

⁴⁶ And they will go away to be punished for ever. But the good people will go away to live for ever.'

26 When Jesus had finished telling all these things, he talked to his disciples.

² He said, `You know that after two days it will be time for the Passover Feast. The Son of Man will be given over to his enemies to be nailed to a cross.'

³ Then at that time the chief priests and the leaders of the people met together in the house of the high priest. His name was Caiaphas.

⁴ They planned how to catch Jesus by some trick and have him killed.

⁵ But they said, `Let us not do it on the day of the feast. We do not want the people to start fighting about it.'

⁶ When Jesus was in the town of Bethany, he was in the house of Simon, a man who had leprosy, a bad skin disease.

⁷ While Jesus sat at the table, a woman came to him. She had a bottle of oil. It smelled very nice and cost much money. She put the oil on Jesus' head.

⁸ When the disciples saw this, they were angry. They said, `Why was the oil wasted like that?

⁹ The oil might have been sold for much money. Then the money could have been given to poor people.'

¹⁰ When Jesus heard it, he said to them, `Why do you trouble the woman? She has done a good thing to me.

¹¹ You will always have poor people with you. But I will not always be with you.

¹² She has put oil on my body to make me ready to be buried.

¹³ I tell you the truth. Any place in the whole world where people tell the good news, people will also tell what she has done. People will remember her because of it.'

¹⁴ Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the chief priests.

¹⁵ He said, `What will you give me if I help you catch Jesus?' They gave him thirty pieces of silver money.

¹⁶ And from then on, Judas watched for a good way to help them catch Jesus. Supper

¹⁷ It was the first day of the feast with bread that has no yeast in it. The disciples came to Jesus and asked, `Where do you want us to make ready for you to eat the Passover Feast?'

¹⁸ He said, `Go into the city to a certain man. Say to him, "The Teacher says, `My time is near. I will come to your house with my disciples to eat the Passover Feast.' " '

¹⁹ The disciples did what Jesus told them. They made the Passover food ready.

²⁰ When evening came, Jesus sat down to eat with the twelve disciples.

²¹ As they were eating, Jesus said, `I tell you the truth. One of you will give me over to people who hate me.'

²² They were very sad and troubled. One after the other they began to say to him, `Lord, is it I?'

²³ Jesus answered them, `The man who is putting his hand in the dish with me is the one who will give me over.

²⁴ The Son of Man will go away just as the holy writings tell about him. But the man who gives him over will have trouble. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born!'

²⁵ Judas was the one who would give Jesus over to the people who hated him. He said, `Master, is it I?' Jesus said, `Yes, it is.'

²⁶ As they were eating, Jesus took some bread. He thanked God for it and broke it. He gave it to the disciples and said, `Take this bread and eat it. It is my body.'

²⁷ He also took a cup. He thanked God for it. Then he gave it to the disciples and said, `All of you drink from this.

²⁸ This is my blood. My blood is the blood of the new agreement. It is given so that many people will be forgiven for the wrong things they did.

²⁹ I tell you this. I will not drink any of the juice of the fruit of the vine again, until I drink some of it new with you in my Father's kingdom.'

³⁰ They sang a song and then went out to the hill called the Mount of Olives.

³¹ Then Jesus said to them, `All of you will leave me this night. The holy writings say, "I will kill the one who takes care of the sheep. And the sheep will run away."

³² But after I am raised from death, I will go to Galilee to meet you.'

³³ Peter said, `Even if all the others leave you, I will never leave you.'

³⁴ Jesus said, `I tell you the truth. This night, before the cock calls, you will say three times that you do not know me.'

³⁵ Peter said, `Even if I must die with you, I will never say I do not know you!' All the disciples said the same thing.

³⁶ Then Jesus came to a place called Gethsemane. He said to his disciples, `Sit down here. I will go over there and talk with God.'

³⁷ He took Peter and Zebedee's two sons with him. Jesus began to be sad and troubled.

³⁸ He said to them, `My heart is very sad. I am almost dying! Stay here and watch with me.'

³⁹ Jesus went on a little further. He bowed down with his face to the ground. He talked to God and said, `My Father, if it can be, let this cup of trouble pass by me. But do not do what I want. May what you want be done.'

⁴⁰ Jesus went back to the disciples and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, `What? Could you not watch with me for one hour?

⁴¹ Watch and talk with God, so that you will not do wrong. A person's heart can want to do it, but his body is weak.'

⁴² Jesus went away again. He talked to God and said, `My Father, if you do not want this cup to pass by me, but you want me to drink it, I will do what you want.'

⁴³ Jesus went back again and found the disciples sleeping. They could not keep their eyes open.

⁴⁴ He left them and went away again. He talked with God the third time and said the same words.

⁴⁵ Then he went back to his disciples and said to them, `Are you still sleeping and resting? The time has come now. The Son of Man is given over to bad people.

⁴⁶ Get up. Let us go. Look, here comes the one who will give me over to people who hate me!'

⁴⁷ As Jesus was saying this, Judas came. He was one of the twelve disciples. Many people came with him. They had long knives or swords and big sticks. The chief priests and the leaders of the people had sent them.

⁴⁸ The man who was going to help them catch Jesus had told them that he would give them a sign. He said, `The man that I kiss is the one. Catch him and hold him.'

⁴⁹ Right then he went to Jesus and said, `Greetings, Master!' And he kissed him.

⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, `Friend, why have you come?' Then the men came and caught Jesus and held him.

⁵¹ One of the men who was with Jesus took his sword in his hand. He hit the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.

⁵² Then Jesus said to him, `Put your sword back in its place. All people who fight with a sword will be killed by a sword.

⁵³ Do you think that I cannot talk to my Father, and he would send me right now more than twelve armies of angels?

⁵⁴ But then, how would God's word come true? The holy writings say that this is the way it must be.'

⁵⁵ At that same time Jesus said to the people, `Have you come to take me with swords and sticks as you would a man who steals? Every day I sat with you in the temple and taught. But you did not try to catch me then.

⁵⁶ All this happened so that what the prophets said in the holy writings would come true.' Then all the disciples left Jesus and ran away.

⁵⁷ The men who caught Jesus took him to Caiaphas, the high priest. The scribes and the leaders had met at his house.

⁵⁸ Peter followed Jesus a long way behind. He went as far as the yard of the high priest's house. He sat down with the people who worked for the high priest. He wanted to see how this would end.

⁵⁹ The chief priests and all the judges of the court tried to find men to say Jesus had done something wrong so they could kill him.

⁶⁰ But they found nothing. Many people came and said things that were not true. At last two men came.

⁶¹ They said, `This man said, "I can break down God's temple and build it again in three days." '

⁶² The high priest stood up. He said to Jesus, `Have you no answer? What do you have to say about this? They have said something against you.'

⁶³ But Jesus said nothing at all. Then the high priest said to him, `I ask you in the name of the living God. Tell us. Are you the Christ, the Son of God?'

⁶⁴ Jesus answered him, `Yes, I am. Also I tell you that after this you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the One who has all power. You will see him coming on the clouds in the sky!'

⁶⁵ Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, `What he has said is wrong! We do not need any more proof against him. You have heard the wrong thing he said.

⁶⁶ What do you think?' They said, `He should be killed.'

⁶⁷ Then they spat on Jesus' face and hit him. Others slapped him with their hands.

⁶⁸ They said, `Christ, tell us, if you know who hit you!'

⁶⁹ Peter sat out in the yard. A servant girl came to him and said, `You were also with Jesus of Galilee.'

⁷⁰ But Peter said in front of them all, `I do not know what you are talking about.'

⁷¹ Peter went out to the gate. There, another servant-girl saw him. She said to the others around there, `This man was also with Jesus of Nazareth.'

⁷² Peter said some bad words and then said, `I do not know the man.'

⁷³ A little later, those standing around came to Peter and said, `Surely you are one of them also. We know it by the way you talk.'

⁷⁴ Then Peter began to say even more bad words. He said, `I do not know the man!' Right then, a cock called.

⁷⁵ Then Peter remembered that Jesus had said, `Before the cock calls, you will say three times that you do not know me.' Then Peter went out and cried very much.